OK, everyone you ask--and they usually don’t wait till you ask--will  say good riddance, 2020 was about the worst year ever.  Well it’s hard to argue with the critics.

You’re likely going to wonder what the following stories have to do with Christmas. Bear with me.

As I write  (long before you read this) I can look out my window at a howling blizzard. Temperatures will soon hit the minus 20s and may well plunge before long as low as minus 40. At that temperature you can freeze equally in Celsius or Fahrenheit. Of course such weather is not unusual here in Saskatchewan in the December to February period. But the first real cold snap of winter strikes like a hammer blow.

Last spring a loon killed an eagle in a Maine lake. Apparently the eagle had dived own to kill the loon--or likely its chicks--for food. But somehow the loon in response stabbed the eagle through the heart . A government fisheries department examination of the eagle indicated the stab wound was caused by a loon’s bill.

So my friend and I, both teenagers, swiped his uncle’s Model T Ford while he was away and went for a little joy ride. And joyful it was indeed.  (I wish to state here that this did not start me on a career as a car thief. I’ve never stolen another one.)